The evening began at Suitcases, where seven GoodGymers gathered before heading to Princes Park. Sophie, who was leading the run, welcomed everyone and gave a particularly warm welcome to our two new members, Matt and Charles, before the group set off.

With Sophie leading the way, seven members ran to the task while the others made their way to the park separately. By the time everyone arrived, 13 GoodGymers were together and ready for another GoodGym session.

After a few introductions, Kate from Friends of Princes Park welcomed the group and talked us through the evening’s task, along with the important safety points before we got started.

Our work was centred around the paths near the island and the Nelson Mandela Memorial. The task involved trimming back overgrown trees and branches, raking leaves and debris, clearing grass and vegetation, and brushing the paths. It was satisfying to see the difference as we worked along the paths, making them clearer, tidier and more accessible for park visitors.

The shorter days and darker evenings also reminded us that summer is now behind us. It was a timely opportunity to check our headtorches and running lights, recharge them and make sure they were ready for the darker months ahead, and, of course, we put them to good use during the evening.

There was a wonderfully relaxed and friendly atmosphere throughout the session. Everyone worked together, chatted along the way and happily got stuck into the task. The combination of practical work, fresh air and good company made the evening pass quickly.

Moonraking beneath the night sky

Then came one of those little moments that made the evening memorable.

As we worked, the moon rose beautifully above Princes Park, illuminating the evening sky. With our rakes in hand and the moon shining overhead, we had come to clear the paths but it felt as though we were Moonraking beneath the night sky.

It was a fitting name for an evening that brought together community work, exercise and a beautiful autumn sky. Sometimes it is the simplest moments that make a GoodGym session particularly special.

There was another reason to celebrate too: Dinacompleted her 10th GoodGym session! A fantastic milestone, congratulations, Dina!

It was a wonderful evening of running, volunteering, friendship and community spirit, with a little moonlight magic along the way.

A very warm welcome to Mattand Charles, congratulations to Dina on reaching her 10th session, and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who came along and contributed to the evening. And, of course, thank you to Friends of Princes Park for giving us the opportunity to help care for this much-loved community space.

Thirteen GoodGymers, a few rakes, a beautiful moon and one memorable evening of Moonraking.

It was a drizzly morning with all the hallmarks of an autumnal one but minus golden leaves and dropped temperature. It was still so mild for September and after all the rain the once bleached grass was back to healthy bright green. I saw Suren at the meeting point, it was good to meet up, I hadn’t seen him for a couple of months. Then Bekah joined us and we saw Sophie walking up. We walked over to the start line and got instruction from a very competent shouter of a martial, I have never heard someone project so well across a large crowd! There must’ve been about 300 people it was really crowded considering the recent bad weather. I ran/walked a lap and a half and then bowed out to wait for the others. Sophie had finished around 27mins, then we saw Aatefa, then Leo at a respectable 33mins. Bekah was not so happy with her finish time but this is the big build up for her now to running the London marathon next April so very soon our park run will literally be a walk in the park for her. Amina said she’d run/walked and couldn’t join us for breakfast but wanted to get in the picture as proof of her attendance for the coveted sticker. Suren must have run and left as we couldn’t find him but he had told me at the start that he wasn’t joining for breakfast. We got a message from sticker guardian Steph that she had reserved a table at our new breakfast spot, Golden Brunch. Myself, Leo, Bekah and Aatefa walked from the park to join her. The food was amazing! Very generous portions, a good variety and great quality. Possibly a contender for our new favourite. Then we all went our separate ways in the rain.

It was a beautiful late summer evening and it seemed everyone with a car to show off had headed to the Everton Park viewpoint. Amongst the sound of exhausts and tyres on tarmac came four panting Goodgymmers who had run from Hope Street. Run leader Liam with Sophie, Laura and Fred met myself at the lookout point and we waited for John for instructions.

It was a sapling attacking mission, the saplings were spawning of the trees and off tree trunks. We were each handed loppers and we got to work, cutting back the saplings to their base.

We got some curious onlookers. The boy racers gathered at the viewpoint pulled up beside us and asked what we were doing and what we’d be doing with the waste. They looked incredulous when we told them we were doing the task for fun and to stay fit.

We worked fast and furiously. In one hour, the five of us had made a good dent on the sapling invasion, they had been defeated, until another day…

John said the council would come to collect the sapling cuttings, ‘maybe not tomorrow, maybe not the next day, but someday’.

As we walked down the hill in the setting sun… roll credits…

Goodgym met up this Monday to help once again with the friendly team at Friends of Princes Park. After a round of introductions, we also decided to celebrate some less commonly marked milestones including 85 and 15 tasks with goodgym. Some might say it's important to celebrate achievements at any stage.

We split into two groups. One group went off to water some young trees much in need of a drink in this drought. Princes Park has recently planted hundreds of new trees, including several cherry trees which were a gift from the Japanese embassy. Our efforts today will hopefully transform Princes Park into a beautiful Oasis!

Group two set off to weed a wall which was overgrown with grass and brambles. Little by little we managed to cut back the growth on top and pull our the weeds in the wall which made it much tidier for passers by. In supersonic speed, we cleared the path on both sides and transformed a weedy wall into Wonderwall!

Afterwards Goodgym slid away into the evening until next time.